KIEV, March (RIA Novosti) - The Ukrainian security
service said on Thursday it had stopped a probe into the
natural gas dealings of energy company Naftogaz, following a
court ruling.
The move follows Wednesday's raid of the head office of
Naftogaz by the SBU security service, overseen by Ukrainian
President Viktor Yushchenko.
Security service officers were reportedly demanding the
original copies of the company's January gas deal with Russia's
Gazprom, following accusations that Naftogaz had illegally
diverted large volumes of gas bought from Russia.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who oversees
Naftogaz, fiercely criticized the raid, saying it was aimed at
disrupting payments and causing panic.
Valery Khoroshevskiy, deputy head of the SBU, dismissed on
Thursday reports that the raid was aimed at protecting the
interests of Swiss gas intermediary RosUkrEnergo.
The SBU had accused Naftogaz of diverting 6.3 billion
cubic meters of natural gas and tried to find proofs during the
search.
Russia and Ukraine earlier decided to improve the
transparency of bilateral gas trade by cutting out trading
intermediaries.
News
